The Seven Demon's Tamer

"I'm back!" Leo called out cheerfully as he pushed open the door to his apartment, stepping inside. The apartment was unsurprisingly spacious and well-furnished, filled with items that screamed expensive rather than those that astonishingly beautify it.

Ryder, who had been sitting motionless on the couch near the wall, turned to stare at Leo, his eyes tracking him from head to toe with focus before he eventually spoke.

"Where is the chest?" he asked, his voice nearly monotone, like a robot.

"Oh, oh, how silly of me," Leo waved his hand dismissively as he walked through the door toward the couch, falling down on it casually. "You should see who I brought instead. Much more interesting than some old box, I promise."

Ryder's eyes moved toward the door entrance, waiting with the stillness of a statue. Several seconds passed before a massive figure came into view, ducking through the doorway in order for his body to fit through the standard-sized opening.

"Brok," Ryder said, the name falling from his lips like a statement rather than a greeting.

The moment Brok's eyes fell on Ryder, a warm smile extended across his face, too soft to have been possible for an imposing and frightening figure like him.

"For a moment there, I thought you were gone," Brok said, his voice gentle but nothing short of masculine.

Brok had always maintained the ability to interact with others in a friendly manner, and Ryder knew that as a fact. Even Ryder could testify, because Brok was the one who brought him to the Underling Tournament in the first place.

"Gone," Ryder repeated emotionlessly from his position on the couch, turning his gaze from Brok to study his own palms as if seeing them for the first time. "Gone is half right."

Everyone subconsciously turned to him, frozen in their tracks with their eyes fixed on him. The temperature of the room literally dropped as Ryder began.

"My body might still be present here, but my spirit isn't," he said, his fingers curling slightly as he spoke. "It hasn't been, not really, not since I woke up."

Leo shifted uncomfortably on the couch while Brok remained in the doorway, the chest still held securely in his chains, his earlier smile fading with each word Ryder spoke.

"You see, Luxy," Ryder continued, addressing a name that Brok had no idea who the bearer was, "those suppressed emotions inside me that you were holding back before I summoned you... they took their toll. A massive backlash, like a dam suddenly breaking after years of pressure."

"I was feeling too much emotion, far beyond what the human body should feel all at once at any point in time.

Anger upon another anger upon another anger...

Frustration upon frustration upon frustration upon another frustration...

Pain upon pain upon pain upon another pain...

Fear upon fear upon fear upon another fear again..."

He paused, his eyes finally focusing on the present room and its occupants. "All these, all at once at a particular point in time, was what I felt. Unlike physical damage, this wound you have caused on me cannot be healed, Luxy.

I can tell the extent of how much emotion I can feel has reduced significantly. I might be able to smile, but not too wide. I might be able to feel happy, but not overjoyed. I might be able to laugh, but not hysterically."

Changing his sitting posture, Ryder's gaze moved to Luxy.

"Is this the price of contracting a familiar from the demon plane?

It's been only five days, and look how much has happened, look how much has been destroyed, look how much I have destroyed, look how much has been taken from me.

If so much can happen in just five days, then tell me how much would happen after another five days?"

Leo, finally breaking out from his stillness, walked toward Ryder on the couch before sitting beside him—closer than before, but still maintaining a respectful distance.

The dining table was right next to them—not the main dining table though, but a mini version used for casual meals and coffee breaks. On it rested a large mug alongside the coffee cup Ryder had been using.

"Suit yourself, will ya?" Leo grinned. "Picture good things ahead of you, because when you think of good things, it will likely occur, and vice versa."

He reached his hands out for the coffee cup and poured some into his cup. "It will all be fine, kiddo," Leo continued, and he stared at the silenced end where Luxy stood. "Everyone has their portion of problems. I am not exempted. I went through a lot in order to become what I am today."

He took a sip of the coffee. It had nearly gone cold, but he didn't seem to mind enough to reheat it. "I accomplished all this by myself—gained respect and became feared by people considered untouchable, even though I was born with nothing."

"You were born with nothing, huh?" Ryder replied. "Most would have thought it's a curse, but I believe you know better than I do—it is more of a blessing.

Born with nothing means you have everything to gain, isn't that right? It means you will have to climb the ladder of achievement with a lot of difficulty all alone. But can't you see, if that was my case, I would have preferred it.

If I was alone to shape myself, even if it guides me to the wrong path, that would have been better than having someone to shape me into what they like."

Brok moved as well, finally breaking out of his stillness and stepping fully into their view.

The chains clinked softly as he adjusted his grip on the chest. "Sorry to intrude," he said, his deep voice resonating as carefully gentle as possible, "but you should embrace whatever wants to shape you if it will be for the greater good. Not everyone can decide the best for themselves."

Brok stretched his hands to the side, showing the chest in his possession.

"I'm still quite surprised how you guys became allies, though. Mind to share?" Brok stared at Leo dead in the eye, a signal he understood immediately — they needed to change the topic and pull Ryder from any dark corner his mind must have been retreating into.

"Yeah," Leo quickly agreed, blending into the new conversational direction relatively quickly. "I was kicking his butt one moment, and the next, I was fighting alongside him. Life's funny like that, isn't it?"

"Fighting alongside him?" Brok repeated, puzzled.

"Oh!" Leo slapped his forehead dramatically, his expressive face carrying an exaggerated disappointment. "I almost forgot you ran off like a scared chicken when the big showdown was just getting started!"

He gestured warmly toward one of the empty armchairs. "Sit down, will ya? Make yourself at home. You've got a lot to catch up on."

"Oh, before that..." Leo turned to Ryder. "Do you think I should tell him? I mean, he is an ally of yours, isn't he?"

"Well, I don't know much about him, but I can tell he is faithful," Ryder spoke. "He held my prize and stayed within my field of view while everyone ran for their lives back then at the warehouse.

I know it hasn't been long since we first met—literally yesterday—but I suppose I can trust him."

"Oh yeah!" Leo cheered happily, flopping back on his couch with his hands stretched out above his head like a child who had just been told they were going to an amusement park.

"I love loyal dudes. Makes life so much simpler, doesn't it?"

He sat forward again, somewhat serious as he spoke. "Ok, here is everything that happened..."

Other than the aura emitting from the field that goes beyond what a Red Mark summoner can exude, there was someone else.

"From the shadows of the night, I saw the blue-silver eyes, staring dead at me with killer instinct," he continued, his own eyes unfocused as if seeing the scene replay before him. "And within that man, I could tell there was no gamma energy or familiar."

His voice dropped to almost a whisper, forcing Lucian to lean forward to catch his final words: "He was pure!"

"When I was unconscious," Mo Fan began, struggling to find the right words, "I wasn't... exactly unconscious. I was somewhere else. It had been so ever since I fixed gaze with those eyes."

Lucian placed a finger on his chin, deep in thought as he heard the description of the combatants. "There is only one person I know that gave such eyes, isn't he...

Sir, I have a sound warning for you. My best guess is that that man is the Summoner Slayer that goes by the name Leo. Our guild leader warned us about him."